A Chinese nanny has been forced to take care of a toddler for months without any compensation after the child’s parents disappeared without a trace with money they had borrowed from her.

Ms. Yu, the victim in this bizarre case that has been making headlines in China for over a month, claims that she was hired by a couple in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, to take care of their newborn son for a monthly salary of 7,000 yuan (around $1,000). Shortly after striking a deal, the parents told Ms. Yu that they needed to travel to Tianjin to receive a sizeable inheritance, including property and luxury goods, and asked if she could help them out with a loan for lawyers and paperwork. As insurance that they would pay her back, the couple showed her photos of the goods they had allegedly inherited, as well as of the ownership papers for a hotel. Furthermore, they decided to leave their child with the nanny while they sorted everything in Tianjin, so Ms. Yu assumed that there was no reason to worry. She was wrong!

According to Ms. Yu, she hasn’t received her pay since November of last year, despite taking care of the child after his parents disappeared. To make matters worse, she also lent them significant sums of money, including her life savings and money borrowed from her brother, thinking that the parents would pay her back once they got their hands on the sizeable inheritance. All in all, she claims to be owed over 110,000 yuan ($15,600).

“I gave them all my savings, but since November last year, I have not received any salary,” Ms. Yu complained. “They owe me my salary and the money I borrowed from my brother.”

The desperate woman showed journalists pictures of expensive watches, cars, and other luxury items included in the inheritance the child’s parents had allegedly received. In hindsight, she admits that they could have faked everything to defraud her of her modest savings, adding that after inspecting the ownership papers of a hotel in Harbin, she found traces of digital editing. Plus, the story that the inheritance came from a man the child’s mother had dated over a decade before never really sounded genuine, but she let herself be fooled.

Ms. Yu tried contacting the parents by phone and through WeChat repeatedly, but they seemed to have vanished. She also contacted the hotel they allegedly owned, but the owners there had never heard of them, so her fears of being the victim of an elaborate fraud are higher than ever. The only thing that doesn’t make sense is the child.

How could anyone abandon their child for any financial gains, let alone a relatively modest 110,000 yuan? Ms. Yu doesn’t have any answer to that question either, but she doesn’t have the heart to abandon the boy either. She has been taking care of him for months now, hoping that the parents will eventually return.

It’s unclear if the police have been notified about this case, but many of those commenting online have suggested that the suspects are not the child’s biological parents.